A.E.G.I.S. (Advanced Expert Group for Intervention and Security)
An elite government-run law enforcement organization targeted towards metahumans. They were founded specifically to deal with metahumans, among other weird, secret, and superhuman oriented organizations. A.E.G.I.S Headquarters can be found on Oracle Island, southwest from the City Centre. Background A.E.G.I.S. roots go way back to the Gold Generation, but it’s changed a great deal over the years. At this point, it has agents, strike teams, metahuman holding facilities, a tremendous intelligence network, and much more. When metahuman law enforcement is necessary, it comes from A.E.G.I.S. That makes A.E.G.I.S. somewhere between a constant thorn in the side of the superheroes of Halcyon City, and one of their strongest allies. The head of A.E.G.I.S. is an ex-United States CIA agent, Jack Campbell. Campbell is little seen, with much of the large agency believing him to be more of a false figurehead for them to follow. Under Campbell, A.E.G.I.S. is divided into various branches such as counter-terrorism, intelligence gathering, metahuman relations, and a multitude of others. These branches work closely with UMA, HMPD, FBI, and other agencies, granting them direct access to multiple databases of metahumans, extraterrestials, mystics, and others. They keep files on everyone, and fosters and recruits new talent wherever possible. Only the highest level agents of A.E.G.I.S. know who’s on the current Board of Directors. They’re all either agents or important people in the superhuman community or the world at large. The decisions they make are ostensibly for the good of the whole world. However, superheroes have come into conflict with A.E.G.I.S. and its Board plenty of times, either publicly or secretly. A.E.G.I.S. Agents A.E.G.I.S. is always on the lookout for new talent, for those who can do what needs doing to keep the world safe from genuine superhuman threats. It’s found agents even among the young but are often recruited from the military, civilian police forces, and federal agencies like the FBI. They’re selected for intelligence, drive, and dedication, and trained in law, police procedures, and combat, although their training emphasizes not going up against super-powered opponents unless necessary. But A.E.G.I.S. isn’t a place to be a superhero—it’s a place to be an agent, a servant of a greater purpose that pushes you to make hard decisions. Joining A.E.G.I.S. can change you, and not always for the better. Agents either work alone or are assigned to strike teams (Alpha, Beta, Gamma). These teams are formed of both mundane and metahuman field agents. Their purposes are varied, with some specialized in metahuman combat, some in intelligence gathering, and others in military aid. Few are held to one consistent purpose and are normally given assignments based upon their collection of skills and past experience. Agents are tasked with the responsibility to identify, track, and apprehend metahumans who engage in illegal activities. They have been given full authorization by the White House to engage metahumans that have committed any number of traditional crimes including larceny, theft, homicide, vigilantism, and any act of treason, felony or breach of the peace. While many metahumans are recruited to the ranks of the MRA, the bevy of them are either found abandoned as children, or as runaways from a world they cannot understand. The concentration of metahuman agents also give rise to children born among their ranks with metahuman abilities. These children are raised at The Daycare, a secret facility which acts as metahuman orphanage and training ground for future agents. Power-Dampener Handcuffs Manufactured by Powell Industries, A.E.G.I.S. operatives turn to mandatory enforcement of locking, power-dampening bracelets (colloquially known as being 'cuffed'). Nobody is entirely sure how this metahuman inheritance works or behaves, and the power dampening technology is almost as inscrutable. The bracelets are not fool-proof, not yet, and further clamor for containing more powerful metahumans has led to the more recent invention of the shock collar. Highly contentious, these devices are far more visible and more difficult to hide, increasing the already high stigma that comes with being a metahuman. Augmentation and Cybernetics Agents comprise of both metahuman and mundanes, the latter being the majority. Mundane agents are normally higher in rank than their metahuman counterparts and are equipped with the latest tech produced by mega companies such as Powell Industries and GenSys Labs. The purchased weapons, exoskeleton cybersuits, shields, and other equipment allow them to get in close with metahumans of various abilities, be it heroes, villains, or vigilantes. Most undergo surgery to accommodate mechanical and nanotechnological augmentation, cybernetics, and prosthetics that puts them on par with metahumans and mystics in close quarters combat. According to Dr. Shang, "Those who volunteer for these procedures will sacrifice much, but they will receive a substantial increase in combat effectiveness.". It should be noted that these changes are permanent and cannot be reversed even with current state of the art technology. Some A.E.G.I.S. operatives have reported to gone rogue due to the painful adjustment to the cybernetics and permanent augmentation and their subsequent desire to remove it despite the fatal costs. The only known way to counteract the pain is for the affected individual to take the makeshift black market anti-rejection drug, O.Juice, for the rest of their lives or else suffer from migraines, seizures, or even death. Rogue operatives have rejected the use of this drug for fear of addiction and its prominent side-effects such as loss of emotion and personality. Many speculate that their decision to have mechanical/biological augmentations was not theirs to make in the first place. Power Armour A.E.G.I.S. fields MAX (Man-Amplifying eXoskeleton) power armor units as well as Super-MAX (Super Man-Amplifying eXoskeleton) units. MAX armor helps even the odds against super-powered opponents, in some cases allowing agents to go toeto-toe with them. The organisation deploys the MAX and Super-MAX units sparingly, saving them for situations where they’re truly needed. The Halcyon City division has about a dozen MAX units and half a dozen SuperMAX suits, though rarely more than half of them are in service at once. A.E.G.I.S Operations A.E.G.I.S. conducts operations wherever superhuman activity is suspected. Their primary role is information gathering; they send teams to monitor incidents in progress, interview witnesses, and dispatch forensic teams to comb crime scenes for evidence. Their second—and most prominent—role is threat engagement. The organization’s official policy is to avoid direct confrontations with superhumans, unless there is no other possibility of assistance and there is an imminent threat to the well being of the public. Whenever possible, A.E.G.I.S. is supposed to defer to recognized local superheroes in handling supervillains. Of course, A.E.G.I.S. agents didn’t get their reputation for cowboy law enforcement by sitting on the sidelines; therein lies the seeds of glory (and the occasional tragedy). A.E.G.I.S.’ third role is cleaning up the mess. Superheroes have the pesky habit of beating up their opponent and walking away, leaving a supervillain body on the pavement. Sometimes, when no one picks them up, these bodies get off the pavement and start hurting people again. To prevent this, local law enforcement agencies often call in A.E.G.I.S. assistance in getting them to prison. Of course, A.E.G.I.S. uses their role in this task to try to impose their strictures on local law enforcement, which rankles more than a few locals—especially, of course, STAR Squad. In addition to their everyday work, A.E.G.I.S. also has a number of special teams and task forces to organize information on special threats to America. There is a small SHADOW Task Force based in Halcyon City that is set to get a lot bigger once SHADOW publicly reemerges. Other A.E.G.I.S. task forces are dedicated to a number of interesting topics: Superhuman Serial Killers; Apocalyptic Cults; Dimensional Rifts; Telepathic Political Tampering; Superhuman Commodities Fraud; Machine Empathy Crime; Superhuman Death Match Fighting; and the Great Alien Survey, an attempt to catalogue every known otherworldly species. Arguably, A.E.G.I.S.’ most dangerous function is examining captured supervillain weapons and alien artifacts to determine their properties. This is the job of the lab boys, and it’s a testament to the dangers of the task that A.E.G.I.S.’ labs are often the most heavily secured section of their base. Some villains have left behind “Trojan horse” artifacts, which come to life and wreak havoc in a base, blow up in spectacular ways (one major city’s headquarters was blown up by a bomb set by the Crime League), or mutate unfortunate scientists. As is typical of an agent’s gallows humor, a sign hangs in each A.E.G.I.S. laboratory that reads, “X days since last accidental monster creation.” A.E.G.I.S. does not involve itself in local affairs. They don’t investigate local crime bosses unless they have connections to crime on a national scale, they don’t perform bodyguard or escort missions unless they’re related to a larger case, and will go undercover only when the ultimate target is a big one. A.E.G.I.S Departments DOEPA (Department of Extraterrestial and Paranormal Affairs) * Office and lab can be found in A.E.G.I.S. HQ. * Function: ** To coordinate the United States’s reaction and response to superhuman-related issues, specifically from mystics and extraterrestials ** To research and investigate issues pertaining to superhumanity, superpowers, alien or super-technology, magical artifacts and the like. ** To act as ambassadors of Earth and establish positive relations with extraterrestial neighbours * Team: ** Dr. Erik Carlsson - Chief Scientist ** Dr. Alisa Sokolov - Physicist and Engineer ** Dr. Izawa Megumi - Xenobiologist and xenolinguist ** Dr. Avery Sinclair MeRIT (Mystic Research and Investigation Team) * A task-force under DOEPA. * Office and lab in Whitworth University on October Hill * Privately funded with the purpose of identifying and categorizing supernatural anomalies citywide and working together with The Magisters to contain supernatural threats. * Team: ** Dr. Demetra Vittoria, the leader of the MeRIT ** Isaac Bolus, Dr. Vittoria’s research assistant and right hand in MeRIT ** Rebecca Corgan, a handler and containment expert for MeRIT